Vendetta Online adds F2P Kickstarter goal

Guild Software has added an interesting new wrinkle to its Vendetta Online Kickstarter project. That wrinkle is a possible free-to-play tier which will be available to players of the sci-fi sandbox game should the fundraising drive succeed.

Guild founder John Bergman states that subscribers will still have the best experience, and he also lays out how and why a free-to-play conversion is fraught with potential pitfalls for smaller indie studios and well-established games like Vendetta.

In some corners it is argued that we must accept this new reality, that our MMOs must be designed more as an extension of monetization metrics than for the sake of the actual gameplay.

This has never sat well with me; I design for what I want to play, and an experience peppered with carefully positioned opportunities to spend money is not one I desire. Nor do the mechanics or results of paying-to-win fit within my game-view. Many of us seek these games as a means of escape, and little violates that like the pervasive artificiality of monetization, or direct gameplay advantages granted by an opponent's larger financial outlay.

Nevertheless, Guild is open to the possibility of F2P, so head to the VendettaKickstarter project to read further details.